Monty Cantsin - History

History

The name was coined in 1978 by the critic, prankster and Mail Artist David Zack as a nom de plume for the Latvian-born poet and singer Maris Kundzins. It further alludes to:

• Martial Canterel, the wizard-hero of Raymond Roussel's novel Locus Solus;
• Monte Capanno, a Northern Italian villa near Perugia where Zack had taught a San Jose State College study and living community in 1970;
• Monte Cazazza, a Californian performance artist and industrial music performer;
• Istvan Kantor, the second bearer of the name;
• "Monty can't sing";
• "Monty can't sin", a reference to religious free spirit movements which collectively adopted the names of Jesus or saints.

Zack called upon his correspondents to adopt the name Monty Cantsin. His suggestion was taken up in 1979 by the Hungarian-Canadian performance artist Istvan Kantor who amalgamated the name into Neoism. As the shared identity of all Neoists, Monty Cantsin was transformed from a "pop star" to a radical identity experiment occupying the everyday life of Neoists and culminating in frequently extremist ways at Neoist Apartment Festivals ("APTs"). The open "pop star" concept lived on in a series of electropop and industrial music albums and performances of, mainly, Istvan Kantor.